Ellen Brokaw, CEO Brokaw Ranch Co. in Santa Paula, looks at an avocado burned in the Thomas Fire. Her company suffered major losses to its crops and employees are working to fix damaged irrigation systems.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)Buy Photo

Ventura farmer Ellen Brokaw and her six employees were preparing to harvest crops, but now they’ll be spending January sifting through the remnants of their destroyed farm in Santa Paula and calculating how many years it will take to begin working the land again.

Ventura-based Brokaw Nursery LLC was in the direct path of the Thomas Fire and sustained severe damage. Brokaw was one of several Ventura County farmers whose property was damaged by the fire, which started Dec. 4 near Santa Paula and burned through parts of Ventura and the Ojai Valley and to date has charred more than 281,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Although no people, pets or houses were lost in the flames at Brokaw’s farm, which grows avocados, mangoes, guavas and other fruit, the fire ravaged vast portions of her 800-acre Santa Paula property and likely ruined the majority of its crops.

“We’re pretty sure we lost 90 percent of the crop that was going to come off the trees in 2018,” Brokaw said. “Trees are amazing, and if there any green leaves left and the trunks aren’t charred, there’s hope that they will rejuvenate. But this has a long-lasting impact, and we won’t expect much crop until 2020 or 2021.”

Still, farmers and agriculture officials agree the county’s farmers fared far better than the county’s urban centers. Brokaw noted that while the flames damaged much of her property, her business was insured and was coming off a period of good crop sales, which will help the farm eventually recover.

It’s important to put the fire damage into perspective, said John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. Krist noted that although it will take weeks to fully assess the agricultural damage caused by the fire, he added that trees are resilient and many farmers were insured and expect to fully recover in due time.

“We need to be clear that this was a disaster for urban areas but not agricultural areas,” Krist said. “If a fire burns hot enough, it can take the upper level of soil and turn it almost glass-like, and it will resist infiltration of rainfall, but that didn’t happen in crop land. Regardless, a lot of growers have crop insurance, which will cover some degree of the losses they might have suffered, and there are also a lot of federal programs that provide post-disaster assistance, such as insurance and grant programs.”

Ellen Brokaw, CEO Brokaw Ranch Co. in Santa Paula, looks at an avocado burned in the Thomas Fire. Her company suffered major losses to its crops and employees are working to fix damaged irrigation systems.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Debbie Jackson Brokaw, vice president of Brokaw Ranch Co. in Santa Paula, looks at avocado trees damaged by the Thomas Fire, which started near Santa Paula on Dec. 4. The company suffered significant damage to crops on its 800-acre property.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Juan Feliciano, an employee of Brokaw Ranch Company in Santa Paula, fixes irrigation pipes to water avocado trees damaged by the Thomas Fire. The ranch suffered significant losses in the fire.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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Krist estimated that around 75 percent of the county’s avocado production — the crop most affected by the Thomas Fire — was unharmed by the flames.

For many farmers, including several whose properties were directly hit by the fire, another concern was the heavy Santa Ana winds that swept over the county.

Leslie Leavens, chief financial officer of Leavens Ranches, which grows avocados and lemons in Santa Paula and Moorpark, lost one ranch and 10 to 15 acres of trees due to the fire. Despite this, Leavens said the Santa Ana winds, which whipped through the county and pushed the fire, caused more damage to her crops than the flames. Strong winds often blow avocados off trees and make them unsellable, and can scar lemons, which drastically lowers their value, according to Leavens.

“So much of the focus has been on the fire, but for us in agriculture, the bigger story has been the Santa Ana winds,” Leavens said. “The wind held particularly strong in Moorpark, where we think we lost 45 percent of our avocado crop for the year.”

Regardless of the kind of damage, most farmers are optimistic about recovery, according to county Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales. Still, Gonzales agreed it will take weeks or months to fully gauge the agricultural damage caused by the fire.

There were 10,289 acres of farmland in Ventura County within the perimeter of the fire, according to Gonzales. He noted that those acres were potentially impacted, but did not all necessarily burn in the fire. Gonzales said that of the county’s historic top 10 crops, avocados were most impacted, at 6,603 acres; lemons, 1,767 acres; strawberries, 45 acres; raspberries, 2 acres; nursery crops, 23 acres; and cut flowers, 4 acres.

Other affected crops included 541 acres of oranges, 220 acres of hay, 200 acres of oats, 166 acres of tangerines and 155 acres of walnuts, according to Gonzales.

In addition to the damage to crops, the fire had a significant impact on other parts of the agricultural community. Gonzales was primarily concerned for the future of cattle farmers, who rely on the now-charred land to feed their livestock.

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Firefighters run for their lives Saturday at De La Garrigue Road and Highway 150 near Ojai on Dec. 9. Crews were fighting the Thomas Fire, but the flames grew too big, so they had to run. The blaze continued to burn strongly in that area on Saturday.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Crews battled the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9 at De La Garrigue Road and Highway 150 near Ojai, but they had to retreat. The blaze continued to burn strongly toward homes in that area on Saturday.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

As the Thomas Fire advanced farther into Santa Barbara County on Dec. 10, residents came out to Foothill Road near Carpinteria High School to watch as smoke and flames rose from the hills.
GRETCHEN WENNER/THE STAR

Surrounded by elected and public safety officials, Gov. Jerry Brown speaks about the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura. He came to the county to survey damage from the fire and meet with emergency response officials as well as residents. With Southern California experiencing six large wildfires at once, he blamed climate change.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Surrounded by elected and public safety officials, Gov. Jerry Brown speaks about the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura. He came to the county to survey damage from the fire and meet with emergency response officials as well as residents.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Engineer Dave Rowland, of the Sacramento Metro Fire Department, left, and fire mechanic Mike Furlong, of the Ventura County Fire Deptartment, repair a firetruck engine Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Crews from across the state and elsewhere were in Ventura County to help battle the Thomas Fire.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Gov. Jerry Brown speaks about the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura. He came to the county to survey damage from the fire and meet with emergency response officials as well as residents.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Gov. Jerry Brown speaks about the Thomas Fire on Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura. He came to the county to survey damage from the fire and meet with emergency response officials as well as residents. He's joined by, from left, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara; and Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Sacramento Metro Fire Department Capt. Dave Durham, right, sits by a fire engine undergoing repair Dec. 9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Crews from across the state and elsewhere are in Ventura County to help fight the Thomas Fire.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR

Dog kennels fill the multipurpose room at the Ventura County animal shelter in Camarillo on Dec. 9. The population of the shelter has temporarily doubled in the wake of the Thomas Fire.
Joe Curley/The Star

This horse is one of 426 animals that were being housed at the Ventura County animal shelter in Camarillo under a "safe keeping" program during the Thomas Fire. More than 200 horses, ponies and donkeys were being housed at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
Joe Curley/The Star

Kennels of house cats were stacked in the office of the deputy director of Ventura County Animal Services at the Camarillo animal shelter. The population of the shelter temporarily doubled at the height of the Thomas Fire.
Joe Curley/The Star

David Karian on Dec. 9 sifts through the rubble of his parents' home in Ventura after it was destroyed by the Thomas Fire. Karian was able to salvage some small items from their hillside home.
Jay Calderon/USA Today Network

Ventura residents try to get their lives back in order with help from local institutions that had set up booths to offer help and information at Buena High School on Dec. 9.
Jay Calderon/USA Today Network

“After too many years of drought, cattle folks have been cutting back their herds, and now with this fire, whatever was grass for them to graze on is gone,” Gonzales said. “Stored bales of hay are gone, too, and we need approximately 300 bales of hay a day for the next three to four months to feed our cattle, which is a huge challenge. My concern is that some of these cattle folks will go out of business or just won’t return.”

Gonzales added that cattlemen serve as stewards of the land, and if they go out of business, invasive weed species could dominate their environment and create fuel for future fires.

Beyond that, fire damage to irrigation systems was a concern for many farmers. Many irrigation systems, required to water crops, were melted or otherwise damaged in the fire and are a high priority for repair. If a farm lacks a functioning irrigation system, its crops could wither and die, even if they weren't affected by the fire.

Brokaw noted that her employees were working around the clock to fix their irrigation systems, while other farmers were forced to abandon swaths of land due to widespread damage to irrigation systems. Jason Cole, a third-generation farmer in Santa Paula, was forced to prioritize his most high-yield acres for recovery.

Cole lost about 200 acres of his farmland and is only trying to recover 50 of them due to the high cost of irrigation repairs. He noted that irrigation damage was massive and putting in new hoses and other systems in all 200 acres isn’t worth the manpower.

Although Cole said large farms, including his, ultimately fared well given the circumstances, the fiscal damage was still significant. As for the smaller farms, Cole was concerned that the fire could have a severe impact on their livelihood.

“We lost around 20 to 25 percent of our avocado acres, which is about 3 million pounds of fruit,” Cole said. “It’s about 3 million pounds of fruit and the California Avocado Commission is projecting next season’s average price as $1.06 to $1.09 per pound, so you can do the math. We were about five weeks away from beginning our harvest, so this is terrible, but for smaller growers with just 20 to 60 acres, it devastates them.”

Despite the damage, most farmers, large and small, are confident they will be able to recover. Cole expressed optimism about the future of farming in the county and noted that it would be important to support smaller farm operations that might have been hit especially hard by the fire.

“The takeaway is: We’re already rebuilding,” Cole said. “I’d hate to see some of these smaller farms disappear because jobs come with them and it will have a trickle-down effect, but everyone is staying positive. We’ll bounce back.”